Positive thinking helps push Villegas into final round

Camilo Villegas said after Sunday's third round of the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston that Vijay Singh "is obviously not the best putter in the world." But he meant it as a compliment.

Nate Crossman

Camilo Villegas said after Sunday's third round of the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston that Vijay Singh "is obviously not the best putter in the world."

But he meant it as a compliment.

Villegas, who fired an 8-under-par 63 to trail Mike Weir by one heading into today's final round, isn't the best putter in the world either. But, like Singh, he's convinced himself of the complete opposite.

"He decided to tell himself that he's the best putter in the world, and this worked last week," the 26-year-old Medellin, Columbia, native said of the Fijian's performance in last week's The Barclays. "It's been a little bit similar in my case. I decided to tell myself something similar to what Vijay told himself last week, that I'm a great putter and that I'm a lot better than people think and people write.

"Today was a good reflection of that."

Villegas needed only 22 putts to navigate a course that played the toughest it has all week thanks to swirling winds and fast greens.

Singh and Sergio Garcia trail Weir by three, while Ben Crane, Ernie Els and Jim Furyk are four back.

Villegas missed the cut in last week's The Barclays, and was in danger of not qualifying for next week's BMW Championship. Now, however, he's focused on earning his first Tour win.

"I'm very proud of myself," Villegas said. "(But) there's a little bittersweet taste when you work so hard and you haven't won, when you see young guys winning, and you go like, 'man, it's about my time."

Villegas is exactly the type of player Weir is wary of.

"I have my hands full," said Weir, who took the clubhouse lead for the second time in three rounds. He also led after the first round. "Some guys are hungry for their first win; some guys have won a lot.

"I just have to go out and play my game, which is when I have a wedge in my hand, I have to attack."

Today will be the second time this week that Weir and Villegas have competed for a championship.

On Tuesday, the pair competed in the inaugural Notah Begay III Foundation Challenge at Turning Stone Resort's Atunyoute Golf Club, which is outside of Syracuse, N.Y. Villegas won the tournament, earning $220,000 in skins, while Weir was shut out.

"I was a little disappointed not to get a skin, that's for sure," Weir said.

Another participant in Begay's skins game, Singh, bogeyed the 18th for a 69. But it was still good enough to tie Garcia, who shot a 68. Their twosome will be a rematch of last week's The Barclay's playoff, in which Singh out-dueled Garcia for the victory and first-place in the FedEx Cup playoff standings.

Although one South African – second-round leader Tim Clark – played his way out of contention with a 2-over 73, another one – Els – played his way back in. Els recovered from back-to-back bogies on the sixth and seventh by shooting a 3-under 32 on the back nine, including an eagle on the 18th.

Crane was the biggest mover of the day, going from 5- to 13-under thanks to a 30 on his back nine. He rode a hot putter, draining 22- and 21-foot putts for birdie on the eighth and 13th holes.

Crane was an unlikely candidate to be among the contenders, since he missed the cut at last week's The Barclays and the PGA Championship three weeks ago, and in between those finished tied for 41st at the Wyndham Championship.

"I was really struggling coming into this week, missing the cut last week," Crane said. "And I was just having a hard time sleeping after Friday night, after the first round, (he shot a 1-over 72), because I wanted to play well again so bad."

Crane finally drifted off to dreamland after referencing The Bible.

"I just felt an incredible amount of peace and confidence as I played, and it was just a really fun day."

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